USF Sarasota-Manatee Seminar Looks At U.S. Relations With Cuba, Caribbean

Relations between the U.S. and Cuba are currently strained following a mysterious incident that injured two dozen American diplomatic personnel on the island. In addition, President Donald Trump reversed policies created by the Obama administration to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.

"We're going to cover a variety of topics that are important to investors, entrepreneurs, travelers, anybody that may have an interest in Cuba or Caribbean affairs," said Shawn Ahearn, director of communications and marketing for USF Sarasota-Manatee.

The closing session features a bipartisan discussion with Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who serves Florida’s 26th Congressional District, and Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands. It will be moderated by Ben White, a CNBC political correspondent and journalist from Politico.

Other speakers scheduled earlier are Vicki Huddleston, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Mali, and Stephen Kay, director of the Americas Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

"We've tried to bring in experts from around the country in a variety of topics and really set up a full, rich day of information-sharing," Ahearn said.

Topics will include the region’s history, the changing economic and political climate, potential investment opportunities and recovery efforts from last year’s hurricanes.

"So there's a lot of different topics that can be covered," Ahearn said. "There's a lot of different people that are excited about the possibility of traveling to Cuba now that the borders are somewhat open and there's more opportunities in that area. Somebody that may just have family there and they're concerned about the state of affairs there (should attend)."

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The U.S. State Department has changed its travel alert system and now recommends American citizens “reconsider” visiting Cuba. It had previously issued a warning advising Americans not to travel to the island.

“As we were putting all this together, we did a very careful assessment. We talked to all of our experts, and this is where we came out on Cuba,” Michelle Bernier-Toth, acting deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizen Services, said in a teleconference on Wednesday.

Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.

It's the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. The finding is also one of several factors fueling growing skepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.

University Beat report on the recent USF Sarasota-Manatee panel discussion on U.S.-Cuba relations.

Under President Barack Obama, U.S. relations with Cuba saw a considerable warm-up, including new airline flights between Tampa and Havana. But now, with the election of Donald Trump as President, some wonder how the relationship between the two countries might change.

USF Sarasota-Manatee recently marked International Education Week with a panel discussion on Cuba, its future, and how the two sides might get along moving forward.